Rep. Hoyer was the lead sponsor of the original ADA, signed into law in 1990 by the first President Bush.
“In interpreting the law over those 18 years, the courts have consistently chipped away at Congress’s clear intent—and I know what that intent was, because I was there when we drafted the ADA,” Hoyer said. “I know that many of my colleagues were, as well. And I know they share my disappointment in a series of narrow rulings that have had the effect of excluding millions of Americans from the law’s protection, for no good reason.”
The goal of the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 is to reject past Supreme Court decisions that have reduced the protections for people with disabilities under ADA and restore the original Congressional intent. The amendments make absolutely clear the intent of broad coverage and the definition of disability, which is to include what it means to be “substantially limited in a major life activity.”